All of Me
by CandyStars121
Summary: After The Tower, Charlie sets out on a quest to end Monroe's life. What happens when she finally gets the chance only to find out he's given up and wants her to do it?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Well, I'm a total newb at writing fan fiction, so reviews are welcome and very much appreciated! The first couple of chapters are a little short, but I really wanted to get it out there and see if there was any interest in me continuing it. **

**And yes, the title does come from the John Legend song if you're wondering. Because in my opinion, if Charlie & Monroe ever actually manage to work through all their baggage, it's probably pretty close to how they'd feel about each other...at least my happy little shipper heart hopes so.**

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Charlie crouched down behind a tree with overgrown brush at its base. From here she could clearly see the camp and it's occupant. She had wondered how she could make it this close without attracting attention from him, but now it was obvious that he was in his own world, not paying the slightest bit of attention to his surroundings.

A knot tightened in her stomach as she reached for and readied her crossbow. A year of fighting against his militia and months of following him around the plains nation and now she finally had her chance. Part of her was amused that he would participate in his own execution by not having been more careful in securing his camp. She pulled her crossbow up and aimed it in his direction, just a flick of the trigger and General Monroe, the source of so much pain, loss and many sleepless nights would be dead. But for some reason she was hesitating.

_Damn it Charlie, just pull the trigger, what are you waiting for?_ she thought as she continued to study her target. There was something that just didn't feel right to her. He by all rights should have noticed her presence by now and have reacted in protection of himself. Was that what she was waiting for? For him to fight back?

She took a step back, making it a point to rustle the leaves beneath her boots and snap a twig. She still received no reaction. _What the hell is he doing?_ She glanced around taking in her surroundings once again. Monroe was sitting on a low, half rotted log on the other side of the fire from where she held her position. Whisky bottle in one hand, pistol in the other. He looked almost weak and vulnerable sitting there.

It wasn't until Charlie took the time to really look at his face and saw his crystal blue eyes flooded and his face streaked with lines from where the tears cleared away the dirt on his cheeks, that she considered that perhaps he did know that she was there but just didn't care. She suddenly felt startled by his appearance. She had seen that face before once, but only in her mind, imaging the scene when her Uncle Miles had told her the story of how he had found his best friend Bass ready to take his life after his parents and sisters were killed in a car accident.

The familiar ache of lost loved ones clenched at her chest. When she had heard the story, this was almost exactly as she had imagined it. She had even thought at the time that she understood why he would want to and maybe even why he had an unhealthy obsession with her uncle and an undying need to be in control of everything.

But it still didn't explain why he would be in that same condition once again. The General Monroe she had come to know, no longer had a heart, wasn't affected by the death and destruction around him, mostly at his orders.

Her thoughts were interrupted by his voice, partially muffled by the crackling fire in front of him.

"Charlotte, just do it." He paused and took a deep breath before adding a strained "please" as his flooded eyes released more tears.

Charlie's heart skipped a beat and she lowered her crossbow to her side. In that moment she knew she wouldn't be ending his life tonight. Whether it was out of rebellion because he had asked her to or because a part of could feel the pain in his words she wasn't really sure. But she slowly stood, walking out from behind the trees and brush and towards him. She stopped a few feet away.

"Why?" she asked, not being specific because really there were probably a thousand whys she wanted to ask him.

"Why what, Charlotte" he responded, refusing to look up at her.

"Why do you want me to kill you? You look about ready to do it yourself so why don't you just get it over with?" She tossed the crossbow onto the ground at her side, and crossed her arms over her chest, making it clear that she wouldn't be fulfilling his wish, at least for now.

He gruffed out a half chuckle "I'd do it myself if you weren't here, but I figure you've been following me long enough, you may as well be the one to do it. You deserve that chance after what I've done to you." He glanced up, locking eyes with her willing her to understand that he was being sincere.

Her steady breathing faltered slightly from the eye contact. _So much pain_ she thought to herself as she stared back at him. She couldn't understand why she even cared, but there was just something that was pulling at her, wanting to understand why he felt like this. Maybe this is what Miles had meant when he had said she was unusual. That despite Monroe being the cause of her dad and Danny's deaths, she still felt the need to comfort him in some way.

"Why now Monroe?"

He didn't answer her, just picked up his hand holding the bottle and took another swig lowering his eyes back to the ground.

Charlie stood there for a few minutes staring at him, hoping he would cave and answer her. But he just remained silent. She slid her pack onto the ground in front of her, and crouched down on her heels untying her bedroll.

"Well, I'm not going anywhere until you tell me, and you're not off-ing yourself until you do either. So you can just hand over the gun….and your knife. And we can talk about whether I'm going to kill you or you're going to do it yourself after you've given me an answer" She held out her hand towards him.

He wiped the back of his hand across his eyes and smirked, handing her the gun then sliding down off the log so his back was propped against it, he reached and slid his knife from his boot and tossed it at the ground in front of her feet.

"Great now if you don't mind, I need some rest" she stood and laid out her bedroll a few feet away from him, sliding the knife and gun under the edge and laid down on top of it. She wasn't worried of the possibility of him attacking her in the middle of the night. Interestingly enough, ever since the night he had saved her in the Tower, a part of her knew that he wouldn't hurt her.

She laid, staring up at the sky picking out the constellations her father had taught her to find when she was just a little girl. Her eyes were getting heavy and just as she was about to give in to sleep he spoke, voice low as if he was hoping she couldn't hear.

"Because Charlotte, I...I have nothing. No family, Miles hates me, Philly is gone…..all those people that depended on me to protect them, and in the end I destroyed them. I was so stupid...so foolish. I walked Randall right in there."

Taking in his words she closed her eyes and slowly released the breath she had been holding. Of everything he had just said, only two words really stood out to her. _No family_ she thought, letting the words sink in she felt as if they were tugging at a memory deep within her mind. She tried to relax and let it come to her. It wasn't long before the memory came to her playing like a movie.

_It was Christmas, before the blackout and Uncle Miles had come to visit with his friend Bass. They were sitting on the couch, beers in hand flipping through channels while she colored on the table in front of them, listening to them talk._

_"I just can't believe I have no family now, Christmas just doesn't feel the same anymore." Bass had said, before taking a long drink from his beer._

_She looked up at him from her coloring book and saw that he was sad and looked like he was going to cry. Putting the crayon down she got up and walked over to him, climbed up onto his lap and leaned on his chest._

_"Don't cry Bass, I'll be your family now, I promise."_

_He hugged her tight to him and said "Thank you Charlotte, that's the best Christmas present ever."_

The memory quickly shifted to a more recent one. The day that her, Maggie and Aaron had found Miles at the hotel in Chicago. They had just fought off a group of militia that had come for Miles.

_"Ya know I didn't ask you to come back" Miles said, wincing at the pain as Maggie sat perched behind him, stitching up the cut he received in the battle. Maggie spoke up first._

_"Don't look at me, I wanted to let you rot"_

_"Why didn't you?" Miles countered_

_Charlie cut in "Because we're family."_

The two memories kept repeating themselves over and over, keeping her from getting any real sleep. Suddenly her eyes shot open and she felt a tear fall over the side of her face. In that moment, she knew what she had to do.


	2. Chapter 2

After making her decision, Charlie was able to get a few hours of restless sleep, waking just as the sun was rising. She sat up, taking in her surroundings, remembering what had happened last night.

Looking over to her right, Monroe had curled up on the ground in front of the log. She couldn't help but let out a little chuckle looking at him. He looked like such a little boy, hands tucked under the side of his face and his knees pulled up towards his chest. The only thing missing was a teddy bear and blanket. She got up and walked over to him shoving her toe gently at his leg.

"Monroe. Rise and shine" Even looking at him now, recalling the memories, she couldn't bring herself to call him Bass. While he had opened up to her last night, showing some form of remorse for his actions, she knew that the man in front of her still wasn't the Bass from her memories. But she was now determined to find that Bass….her Bass…. somewhere under all the hardened layers that made him General Monroe, and bring him back home.

When he didn't respond she kneeled beside him and reached over to shake his arm. "Monroe. Come on buddy, time to get your ass moving." He rolled over on his back and clenched his hands onto her arms. "Miles, you can't do this, you can't leave" he said in a panicked but still sleepy voice, his eyes darting behind his closed eyelids

She recognized it for what it was. A nightmare about the day that Miles had walked away from him and the Republic. The thought crossed her mind that perhaps the fact that Miles had tried to kill him really didn't matter as much to him, as the thought of Miles leaving had. Maybe he would rather have had Miles take the shot and kill him than have him leave him with no one.

Part of her could empathize with that thinking. There were many times since the deaths of her dad, Maggie, Danny and Nora that she had thought death might be easier for her than living with the pain of the loss.

Placing her hands over his she gently pried his fingers from her arms, bringing them down holding his hands in front of her. She braced herself hoping that her close proximity and waking him from the nightmare wouldn't cause him to lash out and attack her.

She squeezed his hands firmly "Wrong Matheson, now open your damn eyes."

He sat up quickly, blinking the sleep away and looked down at his hands and then up to her, seeking some kind of explanation. Without much thought he pulled one of his hands from hers and reached up to brush the hair out of her eyes.

"Charlotte, what...why...what are you"

She pulled back from him, dropping his other hand and bent over to retrieve his weapons from the ground behind her. "Here's your gun and your knife. Now let's get going, I know a place a few miles south of here where we can get a decent breakfast."

He was hesitant but packed up his stuff and followed her letting her stay a few feet ahead of him. For the first mile or so the silence was deafening, neither of them really wanting to talk about the night before and his soul bearing confession. Finally, he decided to break that silence with a neutral topic.

"Damn it's hot."

"It's Kentucky" she responded as if that would explain the sweltering temps.

"No it's not."

"Yes, Monroe, it is"

"Well, I guess technically it used to be Kentucky" he conceded. Since it appeared that she was willing to talk he felt compelled to ask her "Why are you doing this Charlotte?"

"One, because I'm hungry. Two, you and I need to have a little chat about this death wish of yours."

She stopped and turned to smirk at him, not realizing how close behind her he was. As she did he collided into her having been watching the ground and not noticing that she had stopped. He instinctively threw out his hands to steady her, landing firmly at her waist, just as she had steadied herself, his action did nothing more than pull her closer to him. He glanced down at her as she looked up into his eyes.

His head dipped just a little lower, his lips now level with her ear as he whispered to her. "Why do you care? You were ready to put an arrow through my chest just last night. What game are you playing here?"

"No game" Charlie replied, placing a finger over his lips and pushing him back away from her. She had to put some space between them. Every touch of his was like electric shooting through her body, and she was disturbed by the fact that she wasn't the least bit disgusted at the thought of his hands on her or the way it felt when his warm breath kissed the edges of her ear. She tried hard to convince herself that it really had just been too long since she got laid and she guessed that it was nothing more than the presence of a somewhat attractive man that was playing tricks on her mind, and her body.

"But I'm not discussing it on an empty stomach, so lets keep moving" she turned and resumed walking.

"You're the one that stopped."

"Yeah, to make sure you were keeping up, not my fault you're slow."

"Obviously I'm not that slow if I ran into you"

"Maybe you should pay attention a little more" Charlie smiled to herself walked a few more steps and stopped in her tracks forcing Monroe to run into her again. She couldn't contain the laughter as she spun around to see his face.

"Damn it, Charlie!" he put out his hands and gave her a gentle shove backwards.

He moved to walk around her brushing her shoulder with his, and she let him. Turning then towards him walking away from her, she shrugged her shoulders and threw her hands up.

"Ya know, it's okay to laugh!"

She wasn't entirely surprised when he continued walking. She let him get a little distance ahead before she yelled out to him "You do realize you have no idea where I was taking us right?"

He stopped, bent down, and placed his hands on his knees. She couldn't really tell from his posture what was going on, but she had a fleeting thought that maybe her tactics had been wrong. She'd admit to trying to push his buttons, to see just how far she could push him before seeing the General flash across his face again. And this was his first test….could he still laugh? In her mind, if he did, it meant that he had at least a little bit of his soul left that might be able to be saved. She sucked in a deep breath waiting to see what his next move would be.

It didn't take long before he spun around, and started walking back towards her. Hands wiping at his eyes….he was laughing….hysterically.

She smirked as he approached her. _He passed the test_.

"God, you're infuriating, you know that Charlotte"

"What can I say? It's part of my charm"

"Alright then, where are you taking us" he put his arm around her shoulder letting her lead him in that direction.

"A friend's house"

"A friend?"

"Yeah, a friend, you do know what those are right?" She regretted the words as soon as they passed over her lips, and she froze.

"Um, yeah, I know what friends are. Apparently, I'm no good at it." he smirked.

She let out an uneasy breath. _Ahhhh and there it is_ she thought, _self-deprecating humor_. She knew what she was seeing was a small glimpse of the Bass she knew was still in there.

"Just someone who was kind enough to let me stay with them for a few weeks after the Tower, let me have time to clear my head"

Neither of them really wanted to broach the topic of what had happened that day in the Tower, so they fell into a somewhat tension filled silence for the rest of the trip.

Within view of the town Charlie stopped and put her hand out to his arm to hold him back.

"You need a name. They know me around here, but I don't know what they'd do if they knew Sebastian Monroe was walking around with me."

"Jimmy King"

Charlie snorted at that "Seriously? King? You really can't stay away from the titles can you? General...President...King quite a complex you've developed for yourself"

"What can I say? It's part of my charm" He smiled, throwing her words back at her.

"I assure you, your name has nothing to do with your charm, but fine….King it is. Just don't let me calling you that go to your head."

He leaned forward and whispered into her ear with a light laugh "which one?"

Charlies mouth dropped open. He placed his hand under her chin and pushed it up, her mouth forming into a thin serious line.

He stepped back, and she could see that he was amused by her reaction. "Relax Charlotte, it was a joke."

"I...I know that"

"Certainly doesn't look like it"

"Lets just go." She walked past him, making it a point to shove her shoulder against his as she did.


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you for the reviews, faves, and follows! Last night was rough for us Charloe shippers. I decided to get over it by writing my way through it. Heck, even if Charloe doesn't happen on screen, at least we have fanfic to get us through.**

**Will try to have another (hopefully longer) chapter up sometime this weekend. If you like it/love it...let me know, if not, tell me why so I can fix it!**

**~Heidi**

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Charlie huffed the rest of the way, arms crossed tightly over her chest. She could feel his gaze on her every few minutes, no doubt checking to see if the storm of her emotions was over. She wasn't sure what her problem really was. She had gotten him to laugh, and even joke in return. But in all honesty it was the subject of the joke that unsettled her the most. Not because he took it to the gutter, but rather because of her body's response to it.

She felt as if her body was betraying her mind. How was it even possible for someone she had spent a rather large portion of the last couple years hating to get under her skin in less than 24 hours. It seemed that just as she knew what buttons of his to press to get a reaction, he knew the same for her.

_God Charlie, don't be stupid, it was just a joke. It's not like he'd ever want you anyway. You're half his age and his best friends niece, not to mention you look nothing like those girls that were hanging all over him back in New Vegas._ She mentally scolded herself for even thinking for a minute about anything other than what this actually was with Monroe, a simple act of trying to help someone who is lost, find themselves again.

Coming to a stop in front of their destination she knew she had to focus on the day ahead, remembering to call Monroe, Jimmy. And pretty much act like she hadn't been trying to kill the man for the last year and a half.

The small but cozy stone faced cottage on the edge of town hadn't changed much since she had set off after Monroe a couple months earlier. The only notable difference was the garden she had worked on that was now flourishing.

"Well at least I haven't lost my touch in that respect" she sighed as Monroe turned to look at what her attention was focused on.

"In what respect?" he looked back at her, noticing that she looked calmer now here, than she had since she had showed up at his camp the night before.

"The garden. I planted this one up front before I left."

"It's nice." he tried complimenting her in a vague way, hoping not to set her off again.

"It's okay. I mean, I'm fine. I didn't mean to lose it back there. I'm just hungry and I didn't sleep well last night and with the heat being this bad so early in the morning I'm just a little irritable." She reached back and pulled the sweat soaked hair from her neck, laying it over her shoulder.

"Understandable. So, I guess we're going in?" he glanced over at her and the look he was giving her made it clear that he knew she wasn't being truthful.

"Yep"

"Alright, so I'm Jimmy King. Are we together or not? And are you trying to kill me today or no?

"Yes you are. And yeah, I guess we are. It's easier to explain that way…" she trailed off before mumbling "And I was never trying to kill you, I was trying to kill General Monroe."

She turned to look at him with surprised eyes. Did I really just say that out loud? Maybe he didn't notice.

Clearly trying to avoid a topic that she hadn't meant to bring up, he just smiled with a little laugh.

"Well then you're going to have to let me touch you without you freaking out, okay?"

"What?" She thought she understood what he was saying, but for some reason she hadn't been completely paying attention to the words and wanted clarification.

"I mean, that if you and I are pretending to be a couple, we're actually going to have to act like it."

"Right, yeah, that's fine. But we don't need to go overboard with it."

He stepped up closer to her reaching out for her hand and twisting his fingers in hers, squeezing gently while placing his other hand on her hip and pulling her towards him. He leaned over and placed a light kiss on the top of her head.

"That good enough?" he asked, pulling back to look at her face.

"Yep" she answered curtly, trying her best to put any feelings or emotions out of her mind where it concerned pretending they were together.

"Alright, I'm ready, you?" she glanced up at him.

"Lead the way" stepping back, he gestured with his free hand towards the house, without dropping the hold he had on her with the other.

They walked up the path of stone pavers, mostly grown over with weeds, and up the steps to the front door. Charlie knocked lightly a few times. Monroe, being as impatient as she expected he was raised his hand to knock louder, but she put her hand up to stop him.

"Don't. The baby might be sleeping"

"Baby?"

She couldn't help but notice he sounded nervous hearing the word baby, and let out a little chuckle.

"Who would have known Gen...Jimmy King would be afraid of a harmless little baby."

"I'm not afraid of them exactly, I just haven't had the opportunity to be around any really."

She was about to argue that she knew he had been at least once, almost 22 years ago, but just as she opened her mouth she heard the lock slide open, and the door opened a crack.

Charlie smiled at the face partially hidden behind the door. "Hey, it's me...got room for two more for breakfast?"

The door swung open and the woman stepped out on the porch reaching out for a hug and Charlie leaned in to return it one handed.

"Oh Charlie it's so good to see you. After you ran off to hunt down that Monroe guy I really thought we wouldn't see you back here!" she spoke quickly, clearly excited to be seeing her friend once again.

Charlie winced at the Monroe bit and gave his hand a firm squeeze, a silent way of apologizing for him having to hear that.

"Well, here I am." She returned with a smile. "Hannah, this is Jimmy….Jimmy, this is my friend Hannah"

He extended his free hand to her and she hesitated, looking at his and Charlie's hands linked together, then back to Charlie's face. She gave an almost imperceptible nod letting Hannah know that he was okay.

Hannah extended her hand "It's nice to meet you Jimmy. Please both of you come in, get something to eat, take some time time to get cleaned up. We don't have much room in this little old house, but you're welcome to stay as long as you'd like." She smiled leading them back inside.

Once inside, Charlie slid her hand out of his and placed her pack on the floor by the door.

"Is he…" she started to ask as she looked around but was interrupted by the giggle and coo of a baby.

"Right in there" Hannah pointed toward what appeared to be the living room and Charlie moved quickly towards it as Hannah turned to speak to him.

'Well Jimmy, please come on in and make yourself comfortable, I'm going to go get you two something to eat and drink and then we'll chat. I'm looking forward to hearing all about how you managed to snag that one."

He nodded, smiling, following after where Charlie had just disappeared. When he entered the room he stopped to take in the sight before him.

Charlie had a huge grin on her face, leaning over a wooden cradle that looked like it may have been an antique. "There's my little guy" she said, reaching her hands out to pick him up "wooo I should say big little guy, you're growing up fast" She held him up and cuddled him to her chest.

He felt his heart skip a beat. He couldn't get over how natural Charlotte looked with the baby in her arms, bouncing him around while rubbing his back, he couldn't resist complimenting her on it.

"Wow, you're a natural Charlotte" he smiled watching her.

She leaned the baby back in her arms and started rocking him slowly. "Not really, I just happen to love this little guy" She gave the baby a squeeze and looked up at Monroe and smiled.

He hadn't seen a smile like that on her face in years. Not since she was just a little girl with curly blonde pigtails, jumping up and down with excitement that her Uncle Miles was taking her out for ice cream.

"You want to hold him?" she stepped towards him and he took a step back putting his hands up in front of him.

"Nah, you look like you've got things under control" he laughed.


	4. Chapter 4

_**I'd just like to sincerely apologize for taking so long to get this chapter posted. I went through quite a bad period of writers block when it came to our beloved Charloe, and didn't want to half-ass it.** **It wouldn't be fair to all of you, or these wonderful characters. **_

_**Thank you so much for all of the follows, favorites, and reviews...and an even bigger thanks to the few of you who took the time to personally contact me and get on my ass about updating. Please, don't ever hesitate to do that if it happens again.  
**_

_**The next chapter is partially written but will likely not be completed/posted for the next week or so, as I'm participating in AvaRosier's RevoRedux and will be working on my story for that. **_

_**Alright, I'll leave you to chapter 4...reviews are much loved food for my writer soul. **_

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Charlie settled the baby back into his cradle and joined them at the table where they were already feasting on the plate of muffins Hannah had made earlier that morning. For the next couple of hours they engaged in idle chit chat about things that had happened around town since Charlie had left a few months earlier. She could sense the direction of the conversation once Monroe had started to feel more comfortable around Hannah and decided to excuse herself before he would inevitably ask how the two knew each other.

"I think I'm going to go get myself cleaned up...you two behave yourselves" she smiled, leaning over and giving him a quick kiss on the cheek to keep up appearances.

She slipped into the bathroom, closed the door and immediately slid to the floor pulling up her knees to her chest and rested her head on her hands. She could still hear them talking in the other room, laughing about the silly things people had brought in to trade at the store Hannah and her husband Chris own in town. It wasn't long though before Monroe posed the question to Hannah that she knew he would.

"So, how do you and Charlotte know each other?"

Charlie took a deep breath and exhaled slowly preparing to hear the story again. It never failed when someone asked, Hannah would tell them the story, hailing Charlie as a hero, It made her sick that anyone thought of her that way with all the blood on her hands. Dead rebels, dead militia, Maggie….Nora. They might still be alive if she hadn't been so stupid going off to pout like a child over postcards of places that didn't even exist anymore but she was desperate to see. Not being there when the Militia had come to take her father away started it all.

* * *

Hannah refilled her glass of water and offered a refill to him before she answered.

"You know, Charlie hates it when I tell this story, but she saved my life. Mine and Danny's" she said, nodding her head in the direction of where her baby boy was sleeping.

His head jerked up at the name Danny. "Danny? That's your baby's name?"

"Yeah, he's named after Charlie's brother. The way I see it is if she hadn't gone to save Danny from Monroe, she wouldn't have ended up here. That day she had come into our store asking if there was anywhere she could rent a room. One of our employees there said that she wasn't sure, but sent Charlie my way thinking I might. My husband was out on a supply run and I was here by myself. The baby wasn't due for another several weeks so we thought him being gone a few days wouldn't be a big deal. I knew something didn't seem right that morning, but thought that it was just nerves."

Monroe took in a deep breath trying to brace himself. He could tell where this was going, and he wasn't entirely sure he could listen to the whole story without breaking down.

"Well it just so happens there was something wrong. I went into labor ended up on the floor screaming in pain. Of course being out here on the outskirts of town, there wasn't anyone around to hear me, or any way I could get to someone for help. Then Charlie shows up, like an answer to my prayers. She helped deliver Danny, and the cord was wrapped around his neck….I just, I don't even like to think what would have happened if she hadn't shown up."

"Wow" was all that he could say before he felt the tears welling up in his eyes. Charlie was there...she had saved them...both of them. She wasn't a doctor, or a nurse and probably didn't have much if any experience with babies, but she had saved them. She had managed to do the one thing he hadn't been able to do for his own wife and child all those years ago. Unable to say anything more, he pushed back from the table, got up and made his way to the bathroom where Charlie had gone to get cleaned up. He leaned against the wall across from the bathroom door and waited for her to come out. He knew that he wanted to express something to her for what she had done, he just wasn't sure what. Awe, fascination...no, gratitude. For saving someone else from the heartache he had once experienced.

* * *

Charlie could hear the footsteps come to a stop on the other side of the door, and then the shallow unsteady breathing that she assumed was coming from Monroe who was probably waiting for her and wondering what was taking so long.

She shoved herself up off the floor and took a cloth, soaking it in the basin before rubbing it over her face, neck and arms trying to clear away some of the dirt and grime that had caked to her skin over the last few days. She quickly changed out of her clothes and into clean ones, and turned placing her hand on the door knob. Briefly before opening it, she hoped that Monroe wouldn't ask any more questions about the night she had met Hannah although she expected that he would probably want to know her side of the story.

She prepared herself to change the topic as she opened the door, but what she found was Monroe, leaning against the wall in front of her, his head down staring at the floor. Once he sensed her presence he looked up and directly in her eyes. There was a mix of emotions there hidden behind the blue sea of his eyes and she suddenly felt like there was something wrong.

"Monroe," she whispered quietly enough to know she wouldn't be overheard "what's wrong?"

He stood there staring into her eyes for several more minutes, his gaze becoming so intense that Charlie started to feel slightly uncomfortable, but was unsure what move to make to snap him out of it.

She stepped forward at the same time that he pushed himself off the wall towards her and she stopped just as he put his arm out, snaking it around her waist and pulling her into his chest while wrapping his other arm around her.

He was hugging her, and tight. Charlie wasn't sure how to react to it, if anything she was confused by the way he was clinging to her as if his life depended on it. Without much thought, she found herself putting her arms around his waist and returning the hug.

Being in such close proximity to the man that she had hated for so long, who she had blamed for losing so much, the feelings and thoughts going through her head were overwhelming. While she recognized that he wasn't solely responsible for everything wrong in her life, there was still that small voice in her head telling her that she was betraying her father and brother by being here in this moment with him like this. But a much different, bigger part of her was shocked at just how easy it seemed. The only thing that made it even slightly uncomfortable was the unexplained tugging feeling she felt in her chest, as if a string had been tightened around her heart and was being pulled. Whether it was from the memories of her lost loved ones, or from the man standing before her, she couldn't be sure.

They stood in each others embrace for just a few minutes before Hannah came around the corner of the hallway, and Charlie was grateful for the distraction.

"Well you two lovebirds, Danny and I are going to head into town for a few hours, but feel free to make yourselves comfortable. You'll be here for dinner tonight, right?"

She wasn't sure how to respond since her and Monroe hadn't discussed anything further than coming to get breakfast and they hadn't yet had their talk. She glanced back at him, leaving the decision up to him. He looked into her eyes as if he was searching for something he had apparently found as he looked back at Hannah and gave her a slight smile.

"That would be great, as long as it's not imposing."

"Not at all, as I said, you're welcome to stay as long as you'd like."

He placed his hand on Charlie's shoulder. "Well, in that case, I'm going to get cleaned up a bit and maybe you can show me around town Charlotte."

"Sounds like a plan." She gave him a quick smile and headed out to the living room with Hannah.

"Well, Charlie, I certainly didn't expect you back here, and definitely not with that." Hannah laughed pointing in the direction of the hall. "I don't know what it is, but there's something about you two." She shook her head slightly as if she was hoping that would help her figure it out.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know, but when I figure it out, I'll let you know." Clearly sensing Charlie's unease, she quickly added "Nothing bad, just...different, I don't know how to explain it."

Charlie hadn't really taken into consideration that Hannah was very good at assessing people and hoped that they hadn't done anything that might blow Monroe's cover. She didn't think that Hannah would really care one way or the other, but for right now, Charlie was happy keeping this little secret as just theirs, until she had time to figure everything out. Something she didn't feel she could properly do if she was being barraged by questions about why she was spending time with the man she had taken off to kill.

"So, since we're staying, I can go hunting and bring something back for tonight if you want" Charlie said, hoping to change the topic.

"That would be great Charlie. I've got to get going, but I want you to know that I'm really glad that you decided to come back here. I've missed having you around." She hugged Charlie, gathered up Danny and headed for the door.

"See you later Hannah!" Charlie yelled from the doorway before heading back in to wait for Monroe.

She took a seat on the old but incredibly comfortable floral couch and allowed her mind to wander to all of the things she wanted to say to Monroe during their talk, and questions she knew she needed answers to.

She glanced around the room, laying eyes on the framed quote perched on top of the mantle that she remembered from the last time she was here and walked over picking it up in her hands, reading it over again as she had done several times before.

_"Always pray to have eyes that see the best, a heart that forgives the worst, a mind that forgets the bad, and a soul that never loses faith."_

Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath remembering how she had wished when she first read this, that that is how she could be. But now, maybe what she was doing for Monroe, trying to help him find his way back to himself, was being that person. It made her feel a renewed determination at her mission.

She was quickly brought out of her thoughts as Monroe entered the room.

"Ready whenever you are" he said, running a hand through his now damp curls.

Charlie placed the frame back on the mantle and turned to face him. "So, Monroe….how about that talk."


End file.
